Time to enter the 1st “Christmas in July” Giveaway. (Plus…silverware for the Guest House!)

Welcome to the first OFFICIAL “Christmas in July” giveaway.

If you didn’t read the previous post, I have been making ornaments for over 15 years, and my #1 seller every year is my Gingerbread Family Ornament.

If you win, I will personalize one just for your family, (or for you to give as a gift to another lucky family, if you’d like!)

There are several ways to enter:

1) Leave a comment on this post, and you will be entered for today’s giveaway which expires at midnight Wednesday.

2) Become a follower, and you will be entered in all FIVE of my giveaways. Yes, I am giving away this ornament EVERY Wednesday in July. (If you are already a follower, you will automatically be entered in all of the drawings! Thanks for following!)

3) Add my button to your blog and give me a “shout out” and you will be entered AGAIN in all five of the drawings. Just let me know when you leave a comment, so I can stop by and visit your blog.

For a more detailed explanation of the giveaway and my ornaments, click on my “Christmas in July” button in my side bar!

NOW FOR MY POST….

I just wanted to share with you a great little find my mom got at a yard sale. She found a bag of old silverware at a yard sale for $5.00, so she scooped it up!

Now, I know nothing about old silverware, and I have no idea if this is silver or silver plated. Maybe one of you “smarties” could let me know.

But this is what it says on the back…

“1847 Rogers Bros”

I got online and found out that Rogers Bros started making silverware around 1847, but even pieces that were made in the 1900’s also said “1847 Rogers Bros.” So I have no idea how to find out how old these are.

Anyway, this is what they looked like before I polished them.

I used TARN-X to clean them, and boy, did it STINK! Seriously, it stunk the whole house up! And that’s a whole lot of stink to bother a mom of four boys!

If you ever use this stuff, you might seriously want to consider investing in a gas mask!

But it did the job!

See the difference?

Now the cool part is that they are monogrammed with an “H”!

The initial of my last name!

So I thought these cute little things would be perfect for our guest house.

See the cute little “H”?

And here’s the whole cute little crew…

What do ya think? Didn’t my mom do great?!

I would appreciate any info from you experts on silverware.

I will be using these babies in my tablescape for Tablescape Thursday. Here’s a peek…

I will announce the winner for my first “Christmas in July” Giveaway on Friday!

Wish I could help with the silverware pattern, but I don't know anything about it. It is just gorgeous though. I love that it has your initial on it. I really look forward to your tablescape also. The tease looks gorgeous. Hugs, Marty

Hi Traci! Oh, what wonderful silverware and to think it has your initial on it! I'll bet these would cost a pretty penny in an antique shop!Oh, I can smell that Tarnex! I've used it! It's worse than rotten eggs! But it does work!Be a sweetie,Shelia ;)

I do not know what pattern your silver is, but wanted to share some information with you. We inherited a full 16 place setting set along with many many other serving pieces from my husband’s grandmother. One is called an asparagus fork — go figure. Boy oh boy was this this stuff tarnished. They still sell it at Macy’s Department Store and I could go in there today and buy the a set for over $5,000.00 — so know that you have some really good stuff there — whatever the pattern. Anyway, I was going to use Tarnex, but I decided to talk to the “silver expert” that happened to be in Macy’s on that day. She told me under no circumstances to ever use Tarnex on silverware. Never, never, never. Ever. Period. It literally “eats” the silver off and ruins it. She told me to use Haggerty products which they sell everywhere. It is a polish rather than a silver eater. I cannot believe how beautiful the silver came out, but oh my god, the work involved. My arms hurt me for a week! Haggerty does smell, but not that badly. They sell it everywhere included Bed, Bath & Beyond. I wouldn’t want you to “eat” off the newly found “H” on your silverware. Keep searching for the pattern, you will be so surprised when you do as to the treasure you are holding. Good luck!!!

We used to go to estate sales/auctions and if it is Sterling Silver, it will say so on the back. I heard the same thing that Jackie B. heard about that Tarnex..never use it! Haggerty’s is a real good silver polish. Your fine china/silver dept. will tell you the same thing Jackie told you. I’ve inquired at Bed, Bath&Beyond in their fine china dept. and they recommended Haggerty’s also.

I’m assuming that you don’t know the pattern name..I was looking on the http://www.replacements.com website(china, silver and collectables specialist)and if you take a picture of the front and back of one of your silver pieces and send it to them, they will try to identify it for you. My dear MIL bought me some stainless flatware probably the first year we were married and I don’t remember the name of it and I’m going to take a photograph of mine and see if they can identify my everyday stainless, as I’d love to be able to add to it. You used to could buy it from Betty Crocker with the BC coupons plus extra cash but don’t know if BC still does that or not.
I think one of their gas credit card companies was offering it to their account customers. I think it was Shell..but won’t swear to it. She bought me, and my two sister-in-laws a complete set just alike that year.

Just wanted to let you know I am an avid fan of vintage finds and searching out the value or as much info as possible… that being said. I found what looks to be your silverware set, 1847 Rogers Bros Ancestral pattern. You can do a google search and click the images to see if it matches then do a web search to gather as much info as you can on when it was made. The shape of the knife blade has a lot to do with manufacture date from what I have found as well as the tines on the fork. Happy Hunting!
Karen